Posted By: Editor
February 20, 2026
For someone whose voice has filled arenas, topped charts, and become part of the soundtrack to millions of lives, Peter Cox is surprisingly modest about the journey that brought him here.
In fact, despite more than 40 years in the spotlight, he is still faintly amused by the idea that anyone might consider him a star.
‘ If you’d told me back then that I’d end up as one half of Go West, making videos for MTV and winning a Brit Award, I’d probably have laughed and changed the subject’, he says with a wry smile. ‘I was just a bloke who loved being in the studio with his mates. That was the dream’.
Four decades on, that ‘bloke’ is preparing for one of the most personal chapters of his career: the publication of his new book – a reflective, personal, heartfelt memoir – and a new 2026 UK theatre tour that promises to bring fans closer than ever to the stories, and the man, behind the songs.
This isn’t a tale of swagger, excess, or rock and roll mythology. It’s something far more interesting: the portrait of a man who never chased fame but found it anyway – and is still making sense of it.
Go West arrived on the charts like a comet. With classic hits such as We Close Our Eyes, Call Me, Faithful, and King of Wishful Thinking, which featured on the soundtrack of the Julia Roberts hit film Pretty Woman, lead singer Peter became an instant pinup.
The debut album ‘Go West’ sold 1.5 million copies worldwide and remained on the UK chart for 83 weeks, establishing Peter and his Go West partner Richard Drummie as one of the greatest songwriting duos to emerge in the 80s.
A Brit Award followed, as the band received platinum and gold discs during a recording career that has spanned four decades.
Now Peter is looking back on that stellar journey with his most personal project yet.
In his intimate new theatre show, he’ll revisit the hits while reflecting on featuring on Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky soundtrack, scoring a double platinum debut album, teaming up with Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and, more recently, selling out the London Palladium, as well as continuing to perform both in the UK and internationally. The tour, We Close Our Eyes… And Other Stories, kicks off at Workington’s Carnegie Theatre on April 3 and runs until November 27.
Peter’s new book, appropriately titled King of Overthinking, is lavishly illustrated with photos from his personal archive, on and off stage. It will be available in luxe and superluxe formats, accompanied by either a vinyl or CD version of newly released music.
‘As naïve as it sounds, my motivation has only ever been the music’, Peter says. ‘I didn’t think for a second about what it might be like to be ‘famous’. I was happy in the studio with my mates, writing melodies, singing harmonies, hoping that the songs would speak for themselves’. ‘I’ve been blessed, truly, to have had people around me who saw something in me that I didn’t always see in myself. Richard Drummie, my longtime Go West musical partner and brother in arms, was one of the first’.
‘There were producers who coaxed – even bullied – the best out of me, a manager who fought our corner time and again, a true A&R saviour, and wonderful fans who lifted us higher than we could ever have imagined’. ‘The pressure of performance, the scrutiny of fame, and the weight of expectation have often weighed heavily on me. In spite of all that, my love for what I do has always kept me going’.
In the book, Peter talks frankly about why he always leaned on the natural confidence of his partner Richard – and what caused the duo to part company after a show at London’s iconic Hammersmith Odeon.
The pair would reunite six years later in 2000, after a plea from Peter’s former manager John Glover to patch up their differences.
Peter says: ‘I’ve learnt that being a frontman is about communication. It’s about vulnerability. It’s about standing in front of an audience and saying ‘This is who I am. These are my stories’. I’ve never felt entirely at ease in the role, but I’ve come to appreciate its enormous privilege’.
He reveals in the book how his insecurities gave him serious misgivings about whether he should take part in the primetime ITV show Reborn in the USA in 2003.. until a conversation with his mum. He explains why lockdown during the Covid pandemic became what he describes as ‘an unexpectedly creative and constructive time’. He talks about how he became the frontman of travelling band Manfred Mann, and a priceless piece of advice he received backstage from Leo Sayer.
Reflecting on his 40-plus year career, Peter says: ‘It’s been a long, thrilling, frustrating, and exciting road – and I still see it stretching out ahead of me’.
‘People believed in me when I wasn’t sure I believed in myself, and I’ll be forever humble and grateful’. ‘The pressure of performance, the scrutiny of fame, and the weight of expectation have often weighed heavily on me. In spite of all that, my love for what I do has always kept me going’.
So what exactly can fans expect from the new tour? Like the book, it will take them from the early days – ‘smoky clubs, dodgy vans, and the kind of optimism only twentysomethings have” – to the surreal highs of international success. ‘There’s nothing quite like hearing your song on the radio for the first time’, Peter says. ‘It’s disbelief, pride, terror, and joy all at once’.
Expect reimagined arrangements of the big hits, deep cuts, fan favourites and – for the first time – spoken moments where Peter will share some of the stories behind the music. ‘I’ve spent a lifetime singing these songs’, he says. ‘Now I want to talk about them. Where they came from – what they meant then, and what they mean to me now’.
He describes the tour as ‘part concert, part conversation’. ‘I hope people will leave feeling as if they’ve spent an evening with me – not just watched me perform’.
If there’s a single thread running through both the book and the tour, it’s gratitude. ‘Every collaborator, every critic, every champion, every challenger – they’ve all shaped me. This is an opportunity to acknowledge them’. ‘I’m sometimes asked what advice I would give to younger artists. I always feel unqualified to answer – what do I know about the circumstances facing today’s new wave’?
‘If I’m pressed, though, I would say – make sure you’re doing it for the love of it. If you do it for fame or money, there’s every chance you’ll be disappointed. If you’re doing it for the love of making music, even when setbacks come – which they will – you’ll still be doing what you love, and that in itself is priceless’.
Peter also has a special word for his fans. ‘They’ve grown up with us. Some brought their kids to shows. Some bring their grandkids now! That’s extraordinary. You don’t take that for granted’.
‘I’m grateful’, he says simply. ‘For the music, for the fans, for the journey. I never expected any of this – but I’m glad it happened, and I’m so glad I get to keep sharing it now’. ‘I still get huge satisfaction from writing. There are no deadlines now, of course, and my expectations are a little different, so I just let the songs come when they come’.
‘I hope I have a lot more performing in me. There’s something magical about walking out onto a stage and singing songs that have lived with people for decades. What a privilege!’.
Peter’s book, published A Way With Media, is available to pre-order at www.awaywithmedia.com/buy-books/entertainment/Peter-Cox The Luxe copy is priced £45/Superluxe £75.
Peter Cox – The King of Overthinking!
Palace Theatre, Paignton
Friday 9 October 2026.
